Gegè Telesforo

Il mondo in testa is the title of Gegé Telesforo’s new live project (and of his latest disc), which follows three albums in the last decade – So Cool (2010), Nu Joy (2012) and Fun Slow Ride (2016) – as well as Songbook (2018): a book of music (Map Editions) with the scores, lyrics and arrangements of 35 original compositions, written over 25 years.

Despite the fame and international artistic profile achieved over a now thirty-year career, Telesforo has chosen to surround himself this time with a new generation of Italian musicians.

His Italian-language lyrics offers pieces full of reflections on music, love, acceptance and the multi-ethnic dimension of our time.

The concert, with a band of young talent (Mariana Faieta, voice and keyboards; Christian Mascetta, guitar; Pasquale Strizzi, piano and keyboards; Pietro Pancella, bass; Michele Santoleri, drums) leads to musical territories, unexplored by many, that recall the experiences and the history of their main interpreter. It is a re-elaboration of rhythms and melodies resulting from the most disparate musical influences, collected over a lifetime: a sort of autobiographical artistic path in which encounters, atmospheres, genres and languages emerge, that have characterized creative seasons, places visited or episodes that happened.

American singer-songwriter Ben Sidran, former member of the Steve Miller Band, uses these words to describe Telesforo: “To be a great jazz improviser, you have to be a great composer, because jazz improvisation is nothing more than an instant composition. To be a great jazz player, you also need to have a unique sound or voice, different from anyone else’s. By these parameters, Gegé Telesforo is both a great jazzman and a great composer. His compositions have the same swing and inventiveness that is felt in his brilliant solos and in his vocals in general: melodically and rhythmically very personal.”

Jazz vocalist, musician, producer, composer, as well as journalist, writer, TV and radio personality, GeGé Telesforo has gone through 30 years of Italian broadcast history with grace and lightness. He lives his unconditional love and passion for jazz with professionalism, joy and rhythm.

GeGé has always demonstrated a strong talent to bring together Italian and international jazz of the best quality, through collaborations with musicians of the highest level, like Roberto Gatto, Danilo Rea, Antonio Faraò, Marco Rinalduzzi, Enzo Pietropaoli, Rita Marcotulli, Marco Tamburini, Dario and Alfonso Deidda, Amedeo Ariano, Max Ionata, Rossana Casale, Agostino Marangolo, Francesco Puglisi, Fabio Zeppetella, Marcello Surace, Alessandro Gwis, Marco Siniscalco, Max Bottini, Giorgia, Stefano Di Battista, Rocco Zifarelli, Julian Oliver Mazzariello, Mia Cooper, and many others.

From 2010 to 2018 GeGé Telesforo won the Jazzit Award as the best male voice. Throughout his career, he has issued a series of successful albums, like “So Cool”, “Nu Joy” and “Fun Slow Ride”. In 2010 he performed live with his quintet (Stefano Bollani, Danilo Rea, Paolo Fresu and Roberto Gatto) and took part in the event “The best Italian jazz in Shanghai” at the World Expo.

As a lover of black music, multi-instrumentalist and talented entertainer, GeGé Telesforo is regarded as a versatile artist, as well as a refined vocalist, performer and innovator of the “scat” technique.

As a teacher, he regularly gives singing and vocal improvisation master classes in prestigious music schools and international jazz festivals. On 5th April 2017 he was appointed UNICEF Good Will Ambassador for the project “Soundz for Children”